Page 905 - the-three-musketeers

64 THE MAN IN THE

RED CLOAK

The despair of Athos had given place to a concentrated
grief which only rendered more lucid the brilliant mental
faculties of that extraordinary man.
Possessed by one single thought—that of the promise he
had made, and of the responsibility he had taken—he retired
last to his chamber, begged the host to procure him a map of
the province, bent over it, examined every line traced upon
it, perceived that there were four different roads from Bet-
hune to Armentieres, and summoned the lackeys.
Planchet, Grimaud, Bazin, and Mousqueton presented
themselves, and received clear, positive, and serious orders
from Athos.
They must set out the next morning at daybreak, and go
to Armentieres— each by a different route. Planchet, the
most intelligent of the four, was to follow that by which the
carriage had gone upon which the four friends had fired,
and which was accompanied, as may be remembered, by
Rochefort’s servant.
Athos set the lackeys to work first because, since these
men had been in the service of himself and his friends he
had discovered in each of them different and essential qual-
ities. Then, lackeys who ask questions inspire less mistrust

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